Trial by Fire
by Deana
Summary: Frank is asked to handle a case that hits way too close to home for him. Addresses his, 'I hate fire,' statement in 'Manhunt'. Takes place after 'Caught in the Middle'.
1. ACHOO!

Trial by Fire

A UC Story

By Deana Lisi

Disclaimer: I do not own Frank Donovan (darn!) or any other UC character, however I do own Rose.

This is, like, the fastest story I have ever written! I started it on Sunday, March 24th, the day after the last two UC episodes aired, and here I am, finished and starting posting on the 29th! This one was inspired by 'Manhunt', you'll see why! 

Story takes place after my 2nd UC story, 'Caught in the Middle'. 

Thanks to my buddies Tracy and Karri for giving me opinions and suggestions!

"ACHOO!"

Everyone looked up as Frank walked into HQ, and watched as he walked over to the stairs leading to his office and climbed them, not saying a word.

They all exchanged glances. "What was _that_ all about?" Jake asked.

"Uh, Jake," Cody said, from his computer. "I think when someone sneezes it usually means they have a cold."

Jake snorted, rolled up a piece of paper, and threw it at his back.

"He didn't even give us his usual, 'Good morning'," said Monica. 

"Yeah," said Alex, looking towards the staircase, and then standing. "I think I'll go see if he's okay." 

She climbed the stairs and approached the door, wincing when she heard him blow his nose and sniff loudly.

"Frank?"

She walked in to see him slumped miserably over his desk, blinking tiredly. When he saw her his face changed completely; so fast that it left Alex momentarily stunned. 

"Yes, Alex?" he asked, looking surprisingly better.

She frowned. "How did you _do_ that?"

"Do what?" he asked, knowing what she was talking about but playing dumb anyway.

She walked closer. "You—you looked terrible, but then when you saw me, you put on a…a mask of health, or something." She shook her head. "It would've actually worked, had I not seen you before you did it."

Frank sighed. It made him cough and he tried to hold it in. "I'm a master of disguise," he said.

She smiled. "You made a joke!"

He made a face at her and sat back in his chair. "I've been known to do that on occasion," he said, hoping to change the subject.

"Don't try to change the subject," she said, leaning on the front of his desk. "If you're sick, you should've stayed home."

Frank frowned. "Stay home? I was home enough a couple months ago."

Alex sighed, trying not to think back to the horrible situation Frank's mention brought to her mind. Frank had been a hostage in a bank robbery, and had been stabbed, losing his spleen.* He'd only just returned to work full-time a couple weeks ago.

She suddenly looked up at him, her eyes opened wide. "Frank! Go home! You have no spleen!"

Frank made a sound of annoyance. "I _know_ that. So?"

"You remember what the doctor said! People without spleens get sick easily," she told him, noticing that he'd let his mask of health drop again, either because she already knew and there was no sense in maintaining it any longer, or maybe he did it accidentally. "You have no spleen to protect yourself against infection; you should rest."

"Hey," they heard. "You having a party in here or what?"

Cody came in, with Jake and Monica behind him. Alex watched with fascination as Frank replaced the 'mask' again.

"You okay Frank?" Monica asked.

_Oh great, now I have to hear that question again for the next week, _he thought, with a sigh. He forgot it would make him cough, and this one he wasn't able to hold in. 

"Fine," he said. "You got me. I have a cold, all right?"

Cody tried not to laugh at his tone. "So go home."

"No. We have work to do."

"How do you know that?" Monica asked.

"I may not have shown awareness to your existence when I came in," he said. "But I _did_ see the folder you were holding, Monica."

"So, we'll start the new case when you come back," said Jake.

Monica looked at him. It wasn't exactly a case you could wait very long on. Jake returned the look. She could imagine him saying, 'We'll do it without him. We're not incompetent, you know.'

"This is my job," Frank said, with another sniff. 

"So?" Jake said. "You want your job to kill you?"

"A cold never killed me before!" Frank said back, almost an exasperated yell.

"But that was when you had a spleen!" said Cody. "Remember that? Small organ, fights infection? You _lost_ yours!" He blinked, and smiled. "Well, you didn't exactly _lose_ it but you know what I mean. You don't have one anymore! Any of that sound familiar?"

Frank shook his head, with a laugh. Then he groaned and scrubbed his hands over his face, leaning forward again in the chair. "People, I am _not_ in the mood." He took a breath to sigh again, but caught himself when he remembered what that would result in. "Downstairs," he said, standing and walking towards the door.

Everyone looked at each other and shrugged. 

"Oh well," said Cody. "We tried."

********************

"What's the case, Monica?" Frank asked, sitting in a chair at the table.

Monica sighed as she stood at the front, and looked at him. "Senator James William's daughter has been kidnapped."

Frank's face registered shock.

"We don't do many kidnappings," Jake said. 

"We were requested to do this one," Monica told him.

"Why?" Cody asked.

"Senator Williams is a friend of mine," said Frank.

They all looked at him. 

"I…practically grew up with his daughter," he said, looking upset. "She's like my sister."

"Ohhh, Frank," Alex said, sympathetically.

Frank looked back to Monica. "Details?"

Monica clicked the button on her remote, and a picture appeared on the screen. "Rose Williams," she said, for the others' benefit.

The woman had spiraled reddish-brown hair, and blue eyes. She was smiling in the picture.

"Niiiice," Jake commented, elbowing Cody, who nodded agreement.

"Hands off, Agent Shaw," Frank quipped.

Cody laughed at Jake.

"You too Cody, unless you like typing with your fingers in traction." 

Cody stopped abruptly.

"You were saying, Monica?"

Monica nodded. "Williams woke to find his daughter gone, but her car still in the driveway. The sheets on her bed were in disarray and there were things knocked onto the floor; signs of a struggle. When the cops arrived, they found a note left by the kidnapper. It said, 'How much is your daughter worth?'"

Cody whistled. "Wow."

There was silence for a while before a sneeze from Frank shattered it. He stood. "All right, we need to get to the William's home." 

They followed as he headed for the door.

* My UC story, 'Caught in the Middle'. http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=642601


	2. Clues and Flashbacks

"Frank! Thank God—hey, you don't look very good."

Frank gave Senator Williams a lopsided grin. The man was like a father to him, and could obviously see through his facade. 

"It's just a cold, I'm fine," he said, walking further into the house. "This is my team," he told him, as the others walked in. "Alex, Jake, Cody, and Monica."

They all nodded at the Senator as Frank said their names.

"Nice to meet you all," Williams said, then sighed, nervously. "I'll show you Rose's bedroom."

They followed him through the spacious house, down a long hall. Rose's room was the first on the right, and Monica was correct; it was in disarray. 

Frank crossed to the window and looked out it. There were footprints in the snow leading to the window and back, but they were a mess, as if the kidnapper had deliberately shuffled his feet so that they couldn't derive any clues from them.

"She should've—" he paused, feeling a sneeze coming on. "Achoo!—locked it," he said, seeing that there was no sign of forced entry to the window.

"God bless you," Williams said. "I know." He shook his head. "She always opens it."

"In the winter?" Cody exclaimed.

Senator Williams shrugged, with a sigh. "Yeah."

"Frank," Alex said, drawing his attention to the bed. 

Frank looked and was surprised to see an enveloped marked, 'Senator Williams' lying on the pillow. "I assumed the police took that," he said, picking it up in his gloved hand.

Williams shook his head. "No, I made them leave it for you."

Frank opened it, not surprised at all to see the words taken out of a newspaper. _How much is your daughter worth?_ He handed it to Cody. "See what you can get off it."

Cody took it; glad he was wearing gloves too. "Newspaper words. Now _that's_ a cliché for you." 

Frank sneezed again, as they left the room. 

"Are you taking anything for that?" Williams asked, paternally.

Frank shook his head, as he sniffed. The motion made him dizzy for a second, surprising him. "No, it's just a cold."

Everyone followed him out the front door and through the snow to the window of Rose's room. Frank crouched down to look at the prints, as did Jake beside him. Alex and Monica followed the prints to see where they lead. 

Nothing could be discerned from them. They were a mess, deliberately made so. Frank shook his head and stood up. He tried to take a deep breath but the cold air was biting, and it made him cough. They started to walk to where Monica and Alex were, the senator trailing behind them. 

"Cody," Jake called out. "What are you doing?"

They looked to where Cody was in the driveway, looking at a low stone wall. He straightened up and motioned for them to come over there.

As they neared him, Frank almost started laughing at the silly looking hat that he hadn't noticed Cody was wearing. It was multicolored, with a huge ball on top; something you'd expect a 10 year old to wear. 

"Was this already broken?" Cody asked, pointing to a crack in a bunch of the stones. It looked like a car had backed into them.

Williams looked at it in surprise. "No, not that I know of."

"Could your daughter have recently done it and you didn't know?" Jake asked.

The senator shrugged, shaking his head. "I really don't know."

"There's one way to find out," Frank said, walking over to her car. He studied the back bumper, finding no chipped paint or anything to suggest that she'd backed into it.

"The kidnapper must've hit it in his rush to get away," Cody reasoned. "Man, the jerk actually pulled into your driveway to kidnap her?"

Senator Williams sighed loudly, putting his hands over his face. "I can't believe this! Someone really _did_ take her! She could be hurt or…or…"

Frank put a calming hand on his arm. "We'll find her, Jim."

No one said anything for a minute, and naturally that was when Frank sneezed again. 

"I know you will, Frank," Williams said. "I just hope you get to her in time."

********************

"It's gonna stink, waiting for a phone call," said Cody, as they walked back into HQ.

"It will," Jake agreed. "But we can't do anything till the kidnappers tell Williams how much they want, and where to bring it."

"I'm starved," Cody said. "Anyone want lunch early?"

"I do," said Monica. "I missed breakfast."

"Yeah, I'm hungry too," Jake said.

"I'm not, yet," said Alex.

"Sorry, majority rules," Cody told her. "Frank, you hungry?"

Getting no answer, they turned to see that he apparently hadn't come in behind them. Alex and Monica went back to the door, and opened it. 

Frank was sitting on the steps, seemingly staring into space. He started to cough, and it sounded pretty bad to them. 

_"Look out below!"_

_Frankie looked up just in time to be pushed to the ground by a body. He grunted, not expecting it. Looking up, he saw Rose giggling at him. _

_"Rose!" he exclaimed, realizing where she'd come from. "You aren't supposed to climb that tree!"_

_She shook her head, her long hair flying in all directions. "No, **you** aren't supposed to, Frankie. **I** can."_

_"Who says?" Frankie asked, standing up and brushing dirt off his clothes._

_"My daddy. Your daddy said **you** can't."_

_"Why?"_

_"'Cause you're too little! I can because I'm older then you!" she said, with a smirk._

_"I'm almost 10!" Frankie said, indignant._

_"Well, **I'm** almost 12!" Rose said, laughing as she climbed the tree again._

_"No fair!" Frankie shouted at her, watching as she climbed it. He almost tried to climb it himself to prove to her that he could do it, but he didn't want to get caught. _

_"Catch!"_

_Frankie almost missed the apple that came careening at his head. He started to wipe it on his shirt, but saw that it was still dirty, so what was the point. He ate it as Rose came down again._

_"Thanks," he said._

_"Welcome," she said, sticking her hand in his hair and messing it up._

"Frank?" Alex said, as they came outside and sat on either side of him. "What are you doing?"

"What I shouldn't _be_ doing; thinking," he answered, hoping they hadn't noticed his slight jump at hearing her voice.

"About Rose?" Monica asked.

Frank nodded. 

Alex sighed. "You're right; you shouldn't be. It's cold, come in before you catch your death out here."

Frank nodded and stood, walking into the door after them. 

"Hey, where's the food?" Cody asked.

Alex frowned. "Food? _You_ were going to get it! I'm not hungry yet, remember?"

Cody laughed, and walked past them to the door. "What do you want, Frank?" he asked.

"Not hungry."

"Wait a minute," Monica said. "Did you eat breakfast?" 

Frank said nothing. 

It was all the answer Monica needed. "Frank Donovan, you _know_ the saying; 'feed a cold, starve a fever'."

Frank rolled his eyes. He proved them right a minute later when he sneezed, twice in a row.

"Without your body's natural defense, you _need_ the food, to give your body something to use to fight with!" said Alex. "Frank, your immune system's compromised as it is. You can't starve it, too!"

"I'm _not_ starving it, I'm just not hungry!" He looked at Alex's determined face and sighed lightly, so as not to cough. "Fine," he agreed, just to shut them up. "Get me something I'll like, Cody."

Cody made a face, as if that was a tall order. "'kay boss." 


	3. Chinese Food, and a Bad Dream

I am soooooooo sorry I didn't post this last night! When I tried to, ff.net was not quite working right; I don't know why…I was getting the 'errors on page' message and everything. Well, here it is now! Enjoy! 

"ACHOO!"

"God bless you," Cody said, walking into HQ, and following the sneeze to the couch, where Frank was sitting.

In answer, Frank blew his nose.

"Where'd you go? What'd you get?" Monica said, starved.

"Chinese, what else?"

"Yum!"

Frank smiled inwardly. He'd told Cody to get him something he liked, and Cody had gotten his favorite; obviously a trick to make sure he really did eat. 

"And I thought the girls were the mother hens," he muttered.

"I heard that."

Frank looked at Cody, amused to find the usual dialogue reversed; Cody usually making the quip, and Frank responding with the, 'I heard that.' 

Frank watched in shock as Monica piled the food onto her plate. 

"Whoa, Monica!" Alex said. "Figures, _now_ I'm hungry."

"I got extra," Cody said, with a smile.

Alex smiled and grabbed a plate.

Suddenly a dish was shoved under Frank's nose, who hadn't come to the table yet. It was the one Monica had made.

"What?" she said. "You thought I was gonna eat all that?" 

Everyone laughed.

Frank smiled, and took it. "Thanks. I think it's too much for me too."

"You'll live," said Jake, sticking a piece of sweet&sour chicken into his mouth whole.

********************

_*ring*_

Frank jumped, startled to hear that his alarm clock was blaring and his phone ringing. He just sat there for a minute, slightly disorientated from a very deep sleep. He'd thought the previous night that he wouldn't be able to sleep at all, due to his worry for Rose, but he was out like a light the minute his head hit the pillow, obviously due to his cold. 

He started coughing as he hit the alarm's shut-off button, and fumbled for the phone, rubbing his eyes with a groan. He'd hoped the cold would be minor and go away fast, but today he felt even worse.

 "Hello?" he croaked.

"Go back to sleep!"

He looked at the phone with a frown. Alex had called to wake him up to tell him to go back to sleep?

"What?" he said to her, looking at the clock.

It read 8:32am.

His jaw dropped as he stood up. "I'll be right there," he said to her, realizing that she'd called to see why he was late.

"Don't bother, Frank, you sound pretty bad…"

"Don't bother?! I need to find my sister! Has Williams called?"

At HQ, Alex's eyebrows raised at Frank calling Rose his 'sister'. It was a strange thing to hear, knowing the man for a year and a half and not knowing about the woman he was so close to. She frowned when he started to cough again. "No, he hasn't."

"I'll be right there," he repeated, and hung up.

Alex hit the hang-up button, and threw the cordless phone back to Cody. 

"What happened?" Cody asked her as he caught it.

"Sounds like he overslept," Alex answered. "His cold sounds worse too."

"Poor guy," said Monica.

********************

"Has he called yet?"

Everyone looked up to see Frank walk in. His clothes looked impeccable, as usual, but he was pale and moving slower then usual, probably so he could breathe slower to prevent himself from coughing.

"No, he hasn't," said Jake, as Frank came over to the table. "Was thinking of calling him myself and making sure he was still safe at home waiting."

"Good idea," Frank said, sitting down. A cup of coffee was immediately set down in front of him. He picked it up and inhaled the steam, expecting to smell its wonderful aroma, but to his dismay, he could not smell it at all. He sipped it. _At least I can still taste! Wonder how long that will last?_

"Thanks," he said, to Alex.

She smiled in reply.

Frank took the mug and brought it to the couch. Sitting down, he drank half the cup, and looked at Jake who was hanging up the phone.

"Williams is fine," Jake said. "No one has gone after him. He said he's sitting by the phone, waiting for them to call."

Frank nodded, and downed the rest of the coffee. As he put the cup on the floor next to the couch, he had a coughing fit.

"Take a rest," said Monica, not liking the sound of it. "Since there's nothing we can do but wait."

Frank winced when it finally stopped, not able to remember a time when coughing hurt his lungs like this. He decided to take Monica's advice, and lay down on the couch. 

_"What do you wanna be when you grow up, Frankie?"_

_"A cop," Frankie replied, as he sucked on a lollipop._

_"I dunno what I wanna be," Rose answered, eyeing the apple tree. The two of them loved this spot, going to it often._

_"Why not?"_

_She shrugged. "Dunno. Why do you wanna be a cop?"_

_"To catch the badguys and put them in jail."_

_"What if you get shot?"_

_Frank bit the lollipop, and chewed it. "I won't."_

_"How do you know?"_

_"Because."_

_"Why?"_

_"Because."_

_"Why?"_

_Frank took the lollipop stick and plopped it in her hair, where it stuck. "Because!" he said, and jumped up and ran._

_"Ewww! Frankie Donovan get back here!" Rose said, plucking it out and throwing it, before chasing after her little friend._

_Frankie laughed, knowing she was chasing him, but suddenly he heard, "Frankie! Help!" He turned to see a stranger dragging her away with him. _

_'This didn't happen in real life!' He thought, thinking it an odd statement. "Rose!" he yelled._

Suddenly Frank bolted upright on the couch; not having realized he'd fallen asleep.

"Frank?" he heard, seeing Cody looking at him strangely, as he sat at his computer, facing him.

Frank took a deep breath to steady himself, but started coughing. He ran his hands through his hair, irked to see that he felt worse. 

"You okay there, Frank?"

Frank looked up, almost forgetting Cody's presence. "Bad dream," he admitted. His eyebrows went up when he heard that his voice sounded scratchy.

Cody made a face, and nodded. "Bummer."

Frank sighed carefully, so as not to cough again. He looked around. "Where is everyone?"

"Alex is killing the punching bag, Monica is…" he looked around. "No clue, and Jake had to go to the bank."

_Hope he used the drive-through_, Frank thought, thinking back to what Jake had said to him at the end of the bank robbery case.*

"The Senator didn't call yet?" he asked.

Cody shook his head. 

As if on cue, the phone rang, and Cody answered it. "Hello?" he looked at Donovan, and nodded his head as he tossed the cordless phone to him.

Frank stood. "Jim?"

Cody leaped from his chair as Frank grabbed his coat. "We'll be right there, don't worry." He threw the phone back to Cody. "Call Jake and Monica and see where they are…" he paused when they both walked in the door.

"Williams just called; the kidnapper made his demands," he told them. "Go get Alex in the gym."

Jake ran to do that while Monica came closer. "How much does he want?"

"10 Million," Frank said, as he checked his gun. Suddenly a sneeze came on, and it was so forceful that he almost accidentally pulled the trigger. 

Cody and Monica exchanged glances when Frank had another coughing fit following the sneeze; both of them wishing Frank would take better care of himself.

Alex and Jake came bursting into the room. 

"Ready?" Frank asked, with a sniff.

Everyone nodded.

"Good," Frank put the gun back in its holster. "Let's get Rose back." 

* My UC story, 'Caught in the Middle'. http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=642601


	4. The Confrontation

Thank you all soooooo much for the wonderful reviews, they mean so much to me! I'm so glad everyone likes this story so much! 

Frank pulled up at the Senator's house, and the door promptly flew open and Williams flew out. 

 "Frank!" he yelled, as he ran over to Frank's car. "They want me to go alone! How are we gonna do this?"

"We'll follow you," he told him. "Do exactly what the man told you. We'll be hidden in the park, no one will see us."

Williams had sighed nervously, but nodded and got into his own car, driving off.

Frank pulled into the park well behind Williams, and parked his Volvo S80 on the other side of the parking lot. 

They all got out and followed the Senator's direction, quickly scanning the quiet park. 

Frank motioned wordlessly to the members of his team which directions he wanted them to go. Suddenly he felt a sneeze coming on, but it was abruptly interrupted by Alex's finger, which she'd stuck under his nose.

"Uh," he said, an uncharacteristic word, for Frank. "Thanks," he said, completely shocked that she'd done that.

"You're welcome," she said back, staring at her finger as if it were diseased. "I think."

Jake, Cody, and Monica were all turning red, trying in vain not to laugh hysterically as they all split up, going where Frank had told them. 

********************

Senator Williams stood near the bench the man had told him to wait at. Suddenly he heard snow crunching, and he turned to see a man approaching.

Trying not to shake in fear and rage, Williams instead tried to memorize the man's face. _Dark brown hair…medium build…about 6ft…_

The man stopped in front of him, and reached for the briefcase of money.  

"Where's my daughter?" Williams asked.

"Safe."

Williams clutched the briefcase tightly, not letting the man take it yet. "How do I know that? When do I get her back?"

"Relax, pops," the man said. "She's right behind those trees. You give me the money, I give you the girl." 

Williams looked to where the man pointed, as the kidnapper pulled out a gun.

********************

Frank watched the Senator from the top of a hill, hoping to get a good view of the criminal. He watched the scene before him, disappointed that he was only seeing the man's profile. The guy pointed to an area of trees, and Williams followed his finger; it was then that Frank saw the unmistakable glint of a gun.

He jumped to his feet and fired, before the kidnapper had the chance to kill the Senator. The bullet missed the man, as Frank intended; Williams being too close to him to ensure a safe shot. 

The man looked in Frank's direction, and shot back, over and over again, in an apparent panic, not having expected to be shot at.

Frank ran down the hill as the kidnapper took off running. 

"Jim!" he said, nearing him. "You all right?"

Willaims nodded, looking shocked. "He was gonna _kill_ me!"

"Stay here," Frank said, and ran off. "Cody, Monica: grab the Senator," he said, into his earpiece. 

They acknowledge him, and he could hear Alex and Jake talking to each other, trying to figure out where the kidnapper had run off to.

Frank could hear him up ahead, but not see him. Suddenly the woods broke into a clearing, and there was a van parked there. 

Frank stopped, and fired his gun into the air; making the man stop dead in fear, having been about to jump into the back door. 

"Federal Agent!" Frank yelled—or tried to, anyway. His lungs were burning and aching, thanks to having had to run like that, with his cold. The need to cough was overwhelming, but he tried not to. He had a very hard time catching his breath as he walked over to the man, who was standing at the back of the van.

"Where…is she?" he asked, trying not to make his troubled breathing obvious.

"Who?"

Frank grabbed him by the front of his shirt, and slammed him into the van. "Rose Williams," he sneered. "The girl you kidnapped!"

The man didn't have a chance to answer, for Frank realized too late the reason the man was jumping into the _back_ of the van, and not the driver's door. 

Suddenly a gun was stuck in his back, and he froze. A man reached over his shoulder and took the gun out of his hand. Frank turned, but before he could see the man, he was smashed in the face with his own gun. 

"Let _me_ kill him, Dave!" the man who'd been chased said. 

The other guy thought for a minute, before shaking his head. "No, I have a better idea. He wants to see Miss Williams? Well then, we'll take him to her!"

They both laughed, as he put Frank's own cuffs on him. They picked him up, threw him into the van, and sped off.

********************

"Frank?" Jake said, after everyone but their boss had assembled again.

No answer.

"Frank," Jake tried again. "Anyone seen Frank?"

Everyone shook their heads, looking around nervously.

"Monica, take Williams back to the Nest and then come back."

"No!" the Senator said. "I'll help you look!"

Jake shook his head. "A threat was just made on your life! If that man is still in this park, you're in danger here." 

Williams sighed. "If anything happened to Frank, I'll _never_ forgive myself…never…"

Monica patted his arm as she led him away, throwing a fearful look at Jake over her shoulder.

Jake sighed, turning to Alex and Cody, who were both calling Frank through the earpieces, listening intently. 

"Let's split up. If you find _anything_ that could be a clue, let me know."

They both nodded, and ran off. 


	5. Why Frank Hates Fire

"Hello, 'Miss Flower'."

Rose sighed at the sarcasm dripping from the kidnapper's voice. "Hello, 'Mr. Jerk'."

The kidnapper ignored the comment, giving her a huge smile instead. Rose tried not to show her unease at his expression.

"We have a surprise for you," he sneered.

Rose's jaw dropped as the other man came in dragging an unconscious Frank Donovan. She gasped when he threw Frank down roughly beside her. 

"What did you do to him?!" she yelled, checking for a pulse.

"Aww, the girly cares about this guy? It's as if she knows him or something."

Rose bit back her comment, not wanting to give the kidnappers the advantage of knowing that she and Frank were like brother and sister.

Rose found a handkerchief in Frank's pocket, and used it to wipe the blood away from a wound on his forehead.

"Don't bother, girl, we'll probably kill him anyway," one of the men said, both of them laughing as they walked up the stairs, closing the cellar door behind them.

"Oh my gosh…oh my gosh…Frank! Frank, _please_ wake up!" A sob caught in her throat when Frank remained motionless, eyes still closed in unconsciousness. 

********************

Jake and Monica paced in the Nest, as they waited for the fingerprint results to come back to Cody's computer.

They had spent hours searching the park and surrounding areas for Frank, even employing the help of the Chicago PD. All they found was the gun assumed to belong to the kidnapper. 

Senator Williams sat on the couch, refusing to go home until he found something out. 

Suddenly Cody said, "Guys! They're here!"

Everyone dashed over to the computer, as Cody read the email. "There were two sets of prints. One set belonged to a David Miller…whoa, major arsonist; did mucho time for burning down numerous buildings in a crime spree that lasted almost 5 months before they caught him!"

"Arsonist? Oh _no_…" 

Everyone turned to look at Monica.

"What's wrong?" Jake asked, thinking her reaction odd.

Monica sighed. "Uh, I don't know if he wants anyone to know this…" 

"Who?" Alex asked.

"Frank." She looked at the Senator. "Actually, you probably know about it, if you're as close to Frank as you seem to be."

He nodded. "I probably do."

"Tell us!" Cody said, excited to find out something juicy about Frank's past.

Monica sighed. "Remember the case we did when we hunted down the four escaped prisoners, the last guy we tracked down set his enemies on fire, and we stopped him from torching his psychiatrist?"**

The team nodded.

"Well, the next day when I walked by Frank's office, I heard a shout come from inside. I went in to find that he'd fallen asleep and had had a nightmare. I actually got him to talk to me, and he told me it had to do with an incident that occurred when he was a kid."

Everyone listened intently. Cody's eyes now showed apprehension, rather then eagerness. 

"Frank had been at a friend's house. The kid's parents had gone out for some reason, and they were alone. His friend had a book of matches, and was lighting them. Frank said he told the boy not to play with them, but the kid kept it up. Suddenly…"

Everyone's eyes were opened wide, hoping Monica wasn't about to say what they were thinking.

"The room erupted in flames."

Alex gasped, and covered her mouth with one hand.

"He got out, right?" Cody said. "Heh! Of _course_ he did, or he wouldn't be our boss."

Monica looked sad.

"The other kid?" Jake asked.

Monica sighed. "He didn't make it. Frank told me that they were on a second floor, and the fire swept through the room too fast for them to get to the door. By the time Frank got the window open, he passed out from smoke inhalation. His friend was burned, and didn't survive."

Everyone just stared at her. Alex sniffed, with tears in her eyes. Jake looked upset as well; Monica knew how much he liked kids.

"There's one thing Frank left out."

They all looked at the Senator. "What?" Monica asked, thinking she'd known the whole story.

"Rose was with them."

"What?!"

Williams sighed. "The reason Frank didn't make it out the window in time…it took a while to get it open, it wasn't the usual-type of window, but small and oddly shaped. After he finally did, he made Rose climb out, and he held onto her arms until people ran into the yard. He let go; and they caught her. By then he'd been overcome by the smoke, and when the people saw that he didn't jump out after Rose, some of them ran into the house. By then the firemen arrived, and got him out just in time." He sighed, remembering how Rose had been in hysterics when the fireman carried out Frank's small, limp body.

Everyone was in utter shock. "But...but if the window was open, why didn't that provide the oxygen he needed to prevent him from being overcome by the smoke?" Cody asked.

Williams shook his head. "The flames had spread so fast that the room was totally filled with the smoke and was billowing _out_ the window. It was oppressively hot and humid that day, so the air that _did_ come in was no help. Firemen later found bottles of alcohol that had been ignited by the fire engulfing a liquor cabinet, which was why it'd spread so quickly."

Alex gasped. "And now Frank has a phobia about fire?" Now she understood Frank's 'I hate fire' statement after they saved the arsonist's psychiatrist.

Monica shrugged. "Does Frank seem like the type of person to have a phobia to _anything_? I dunno if I would call it that. Maybe, maybe not."

"That case was enough to bring back that memory, and give him nightmares," Jake pointed out. "I mean, come on; the guy _is_ human."

"True."

Alex sighed loudly. "We have to find him! He's sick, he may be hurt, and he's in the clutches of a psycho arsonist!"

Everyone was silent for a minute.

"I have an idea, but it's a long shot," Jake said.

"What?" 

"Howabout we call car repair shops in the area, and ask if anyone came in with a car that needed scratches fixed on the back bumper?"

"Uh, Jake?" said Cody. "Why would the kidnappers take the time to have that fixed at a time like this?" 

"Uh, Cody? Because they won't want their car identified as being the vehicle that took Rose away."

Cody blinked. "Oh yeah. I knew that."

**'Manhunt', UC season 1, episode 12


	6. Alllllllllrighty, then!!

Hey people! Sooooo sorry I didn't post this last night!! My younger brother dragged me all over the state to find a weight bench, weights, accessories and all kinds of crap. (I'm the one with the credit card, LOL!) And I think I caught Frank's cold LOLOL and by the time I got home it was almost 10pm and I was like, blah. LOL so anyway, here it is!*cough cough sniff*

Oh yeah, I figured I should say this just in case. I do not own Jim Carrey. (What does Jim Carrey have to do with anything? LOL you'll see!)

"Frank?"

Rose sighed, when she still got no response. She was sitting on the ground with Frank's head in her lap, and was so worried about the injury on his forehead that she didn't notice the slightly noisy sound of Frank's breathing.

After what seemed like an eternity, Frank finally woke up. Rose was startled when he suddenly started to cough horribly. 

She grew alarmed, when it went on for a while. "Frank?! Frank?" He tried to roll off her lap, and she helped him turn onto his side, and held him there.

Finally he stopped coughing, and plopped back down limply, wheezing painfully. The still-tender site of his recent stab wound started to hurt, making him wince.

"Frank! My gosh, what's wrong? What did they _do_ to you?!" 

Frank opened his eyes, only now realizing whose lap he was lying on. "Rose!" he tried to say, but it came out sounding like a croak.

She put her hand on the side of his face, and was surprised to find it pretty warm. "I'm here, Frank. We're in a basement, somewhere. Tell me what they _did_ to you!"

Frank shook his head, with a sigh. It made him cough again, and the severity almost made Rose scream in frustration, waiting for an answer to her question. Had he been beaten by the men, and received internal damage to his lungs?

After Frank stopped coughing, he whispered, "Not…them. Have…a cold."

Rose sighed. "Oh, Frank…" she didn't voice aloud that it sounded a lot worse then a mere cold to her, his trouble breathing and talking making it pretty obvious. 

Frank squirmed, and Rose remembered that he'd come in handcuffed; it had to be pretty uncomfortable for him to lie that way with his hands cuffed behind his back. His breathing was getting noisier, and she realized that it would be easier on his lungs if he were sitting up. She stuck her hands under his arms, and tried to pull him into a sitting position. 

"Frank, sit up."

He didn't move.

"Frank," she said louder.

He opened his eyes and looked at her. Realizing what she was trying to do, he obeyed, until she had him sitting against the wall, her arm around him. He was grateful for it, for he found that the cellar was utterly freezing, obviously not heated. 

Suddenly Rose noticed the earpiece that Frank was still wearing. "What's that?" she asked, touching it.

Frank's eyes snapped open. He hadn't realized he still had it. "Jake?" he said, into it. "Cody? Anyone there?" A few seconds passed silently. "Alex? Anyone?"

Rose watched as speaking made Frank's breathing more labored, so she took the tiny device and stuck it into her own ear. "Hello?" she said. "If anyone can hear me, _help_!"

********************

"Someone brought in their car yesterday?"

Jake put his phone down just as he heard Monica's question to whoever she was talking to. She grabbed paper and a pen and started writing. 

"Great…yeah, we'll be over there soon, thanks." She hung up the phone, with a triumphant look. 

"Where?" Jake asked. 

"Shane's Auto Body."

"I know that place," Cody said, walking over. "They do good work."

"What did they bring in?" Jake asked, as he grabbed his jacket.

"A van."

Cody nodded. "Makes sense; they grab the girl, throw her in, and speed off." He suddenly looked around to make sure the Senator didn't hear his insensitive statement. 

Williams came back into the room, after apparently using the bathroom. "What's up?" he said, noticing the team wearing jackets. 

"We found a place that fixed scratches on a van," Jake said. "You stay here with Monica."

"Hey!" 

"We need you to keep calling places," Jake told her, when she protested. "This may not be the one, for all we know."

She nodded. "All right."

"Come on, Cody."

"Just the two of us…" Cody started to sing, as he followed Jake out the door.

********************

Jake and Cody parked, and went into the shop. The owner was on the phone when they came in, so they waited for him to finish.

"Can I help you?" the man said, after he hung up.

Jake showed his badge. "We called earlier looking to see if anyone brought a vehicle here that needed scratches fixed on the back bumper." 

The man's eyebrows went up when he saw the badge. "You're not a girl."

Cody snorted. 

"That was another agent on the phone," Jake explained. "Is the van still here?"

The man shook his head.

_Darn it!_ "Did you make up a receipt for it?"

Nodding, the man looked through a drawer, and took it out, handing it to Jake. 

"Jim Carrey?" Jake read.

Cody busted out laughing. "That's _gotta_ be him. He wouldn't sign his real name!"

The body shop owner looked surprised, and laughed. "Guess I should look at the signatures people give, huh?"

Jake nodded. "Yeah." He took a pen and wrote the address 'Jim Carrey' had written on the slip, and handed it back. "Did you fix the scratches yourself?"

The man nodded. 

"What did the guy look like?"

"Uh…light brown hair, thin, tall," he shook his head. "Nothing special about him."

"Was he wearing a baseball hat that said, 'Raiders' on it?" Cody asked.

The man frowned, and then nodded. "Actually yeah, he was."

Jake shot a look at Cody as if to say, 'How the heck did you know that?'

"That's him," Cody said. 

"Great," Jake said. "Thanks for your help," he said to the man, and they left.

"Cody?"

"Humm?"

"Where the heck did you come up with that?"

"With what?" Cody asked, playing dumb.

Jake sighed as he got in the car. "The hat!"

"Oh," Cody said. He looked at Jake. "I think it's called _reading_. I do believe I am the only one who read all the info that was emailed to us about this guy."

Jake drove away, and glanced at Cody with a smile. "Hey, that _is_ why _you're_ the computer nerd."


	7. Escape Attempt, and a False Lead

LOL did you all understand the title for chapter 6? 'Alllllllllrighty, then!' It was supposed to be a joke, to go along with the Jim Carrey thing! (He said 'alllllllrighty, then' a lot in 'Ace Ventura', lol) I'm not even a huge fan of him, or anything, I just wanted a name that would _obviously_ not be the real name of the person, and his popped into my head! Alllllllrighty then! LOL! Oh, and yes, Patty, I _do_ still have _my_ spleen! Thanks everyone for your reviews, I live for them! 

"Hello? Anyone there?"

Rose sighed when she was met with silence yet again. She'd been trying for what seemed like forever to get through to someone on the earpiece, but they simply weren't listening to whatever her voice was coming out of. _Maybe the thing on their end is turned off!_ she thought, feeling her heart sink.

"Frank?"

The only answer she got was his heavy breathing. It was good that he slept, but she was very worried about him, and wanted nothing more then to hear his voice. _Sounds like he has bronchitis or something,_ she thought. She sighed heavily, and again tried to reach someone through the earpiece. 

Suddenly Frank started coughing again, even worse then before. Rose tried to calm her fear, not wanting to flip and stress out Frank, who definitely did not need anxiety at a time when he could hardly breathe. 

It was a long time before he was able to take a breath without coughing, and he slumped against Rose's shoulder, exhausted, blinking back the water the coughing had brought to his eyes. 

"Frank?" she whispered. "Are you all right?"

Not having the breath to answer, he simply nodded his head. 

Rose's fear grew when she realized he was shivering violently. Leaving her left arm around him, she felt his forehead with her other hand. "You have a fever," she said, nervously.

Frank said nothing, continuing to shudder.

Rose hugged him closer, hoping that her body heat would still his chills. 

"Make…contact?" he whispered. 

She shook her head. "No, but I keep trying."

"Good..." he started to cough again, and it was all she could do to prevent herself from yelling for help. She knew the only ones who would hear her would be the kidnappers. She suddenly wondered why they hadn't come into the cellar again. A thought struck her. _Are they gone? _

"Frank?"

"What?" he gasped.

"I'm gonna see if I can find a way out of here."

Frank tried to move. "No! Too dangerous…"

"I don't think they're here, Frank. I haven't heard them walking over our heads, or talking, or anything." She carefully pulled herself away from him, and steadied him against the wall. Her legs felt cramped as she walked around the cellar, looking for anything she could use as a weapon if she needed it. She sighed at the sight of a tiny window several feet above her head. There was no way either of them could get up there; there was no furniture they could stand on, or anything. Finding nothing to adequately defend herself with, she quietly walked up the steps, and stopped at the door. Placing her ear on it, she listened for voices, but heard none. Placing her hand carefully on the handle, she turned it to find it locked as expected. It was a tight knob, not loose at all, and the screws that attached it to the door were on the opposite side. After studying the door, and finding no way out, she went back down the stairs and hover to Frank.

"Frank?"

He opened his eyes, not wanting to talk and risk coughing his lungs out again.

"Did they take your wallet?"

Frank frowned, not sure. 

Rose saw his uncertainty, and she looked in his pockets, since his hands were still cuffed. She smiled when she found it, and took out one of his credit cards.

At the questioning look on his face, she said. "I'm gonna try to pick the lock."

Frank's face showed a mixture of nerves and amusement. 

Rose went back up the steps, and quietly tried to get the door open. When she felt the card slide the bolt out of the hole, she almost squealed with glee. But when she tried to open the door, it didn't obey. To her utter dismay, she realized that there must be a deadbolt on the door, further up. 

Tears welled up in her eyes as she pulled the credit card out of the door, hearing the bolt slide back in. For a wonderful second, she thought they were free; but now she doubted they would even get out of this alive.

********************

"What happened?"

Jake and Cody walked into the Nest to see that Alex had returned from her errand: grabbing everyone their late supper. 

"I think this is it," Jake told her, going over and grabbing a slice of pizza. "Let's go knock their door down and find out."

Alex jumped up from her chair and grabbed her coat. 

"Where's Williams?" Jake asked, noticing that he wasn't there.

"I convinced him to go home," Alex said, grabbing her earpiece and checking her gun. "By telling him that the kidnappers might be trying to contact him again."

"What? Alone?"

"Of course not," she said, indignant. "I got Chief Morgan to send an officer to escort him home safely, and play security guard."

"Good. Everyone ready?"

They all nodded, and followed Jake out the door.

********************

"I don't think this is it."

Jake looked at Cody, who was looking out one of the van's windows. He sighed, hating having to agree. The house before them was homely with a white picket fence, and a car—not van—in the yard. He could see a child's bicycle next to the garage, and wondered how a kid could ride a bike in the snow. _Maybe the father was cleaning out the garage and is throwing it out_, he thought. _Could be any reason. _Suddenly another car pulled into the driveway, and a woman got out with a bag of groceries. The door opened before she reached it, and a man stood there holding the door for her, while a little girl tried to hug her mother's legs as she walked in.

"It's a false address," Monica said, with a sigh.

Jake didn't trust himself to speak. He was so filled with anger he felt that he could explode. _This is how Frank must've felt when he found out that Rose had been kidnapped._

"You're right; this isn't it," he said, with a sigh. "Let's go back."


	8. A Sleepless Night, and a Worsening Frank

LOL everyone, thanks for the well wishes about my cold, lol! *sniff* It hasn't gotten much better yet, but it will eventually! I sure know how poor Frank's cough feels, that's for sure! *argh* (Although, it isn't quite _that_ bad, thank God, lol!) 

Rose had given up talking into the earpiece, and fallen asleep. She was jolted awake an undetermined amount of time later by Frank coughing again. Trying to soothe him, she didn't notice when the cellar door was opened, and one of the men stand quietly watching. When Frank finally stopped coughing, she realized the man was there, and gasped.

"Uh oh," the kidnapper said. "That guy don't sound too good. Sounds like he's sick. Getting attached to the hero already, Miss Flower?"

Rose ignored him, looking away from his sneering face. _Isn't it obvious that we know each other? Is this guy really that stupid? _

"I think you two better get a good night's rest. Sleep well, I'll most likely kill you in the morning!" He walked up the stairs again, laughing his head off. 

_"Goodnight, Westley, sleep well; I'll most likely kill you in the morning." _It was a quote from one of her favorite movies, 'The Princess Bride'. She thought it extremely strange that a crazy kidnapper would quote a movie like that, but then she smiled when she remembered her and Frank as young teenagers. She had wanted to see that movie badly, so Frank had taken her. _Wow, was that really 17 years ago? _She remembered how they'd walked to the theater, and how excited she had been about having turned 16 and about to get her driver's license. Frank had been slightly jealous—still only 14—but excited for her all the same. 

She was jolted out of her reverie by more coughing from her 'little brother'. 

This fit seemed to be worse then the others, if possible, and it scared the daylights out of Rose. She picked up the earpiece that she'd put in her pocket, and stuck it back into her ear. "Hello? _Please_, we need help!!"

********************

"What do we do now?" Cody asked, as they threw their coats down on the couch. 

Jake looked at his watch. It was 9pm. "We have no way of finding out where Miller is tonight; I don't think there's anything we _can_ do."

"Jake!" Alex said. "You don't expect us to go home and go to bed while Frank is out there somewhere? Sick, maybe hurt…"

Jake grabbed her by the arms. "Alex, I know how you feel, I feel the same way. I doubt I'll sleep tonight either. But for Frank's sake, we have to try. If we're all suffering sleep deprivation tomorrow, how are we gonna be able to figure out where Frank is, and save him?"

Alex knew he had a point, but she couldn't bear lying in her warm, comfortable bed while Frank was in the clutches of a madman. 

Jake saw that she had no intentions of going home. "Come on, Cody, let's break out the cots."

********************

Rose and Frank were awake most of the night; Frank's coughing fits waking them when they did sleep, and fear of their situation keeping them awake for a while afterwards. 

When the sun rose, and the light streamed in through the tiny window, it gave Rose a little bit of hope: they had lived to see another day. But then it brought her down, as she realized that it could be the last sunrise she'll ever see.

Rose sighed as she studied Frank's pale face. Whatever he had, it had gotten worse overnight. She sighed again, as she wondered when and how this would end. 

********************

"We ain't gonna get no money from them, why are you prolonging this?"

"Don't start, Jeff!" Miller yelled at his accomplice. "I'm trying to figure out what to do."

"They both saw us, they have to die."

"I _know_ that!" Miller said back. "We gotta figure out where we're _going_ first. Then when we leave, we'll torch the house."

Jeff smiled. "Really? With them in the cellar?"

Miller nodded.

"Cool…"

********************

Jake was the first one to wake up the next morning. He jumped off the cot when he realized the time. They had stayed awake until 4 o'clock in the morning, too worried to sleep. Obviously their bodies had taken over some time after that, and it was now almost 9am.

"People, wake up!"

He heard groans as the team's sleep was interrupted, but then they all got up quickly, remembering the situation. 

"Oh no! It's almost 9!" Alex said.

"Yeah, this is why I insisted we sleep, so that _this_ wouldn't happen," said Jake, as he went over to a computer Cody had left running; checking for possible locations and hideouts Miller could be holed up in. He grabbed the print out and flopped into a chair, running down the list of possibilities.

Cody shuffled over, yawning. "What's the plan of action?"

Jake sighed. "Not sure yet."

Cody echoed the sigh. "Howabout I go get breakfast. This may be our only chance to eat today."

Jake smirked at him. "True."

Cody walked towards the gym, where they all kept a spare outfit, in case of times like these. He changed quickly and left, stopping when he saw Frank's precious Volvo S80 still parked there. 

The sight of it made Cody sad. _What if we don't find him in time?_ he thought. _What if it's already too late? _He looked away from the car, and got in his own. _No,_ he thought. _We're gonna find him. We are gonna find him!_

********************

Rose jumped as Frank started coughing, waking her from a light doze. This fit was the worst by far, and when it was over Frank could not seem to get his breath back. 

"Rose," he croaked.

"Yes, Frank?" she said, still holding him tightly.

"If…you…can escape…do it…"

"Without you? Never!" She winced when he coughed again. "Don't talk, Frank! Hush, stay still."

But Frank shook his head and tried to pull out of her embrace.

"What are you doing?" she asked him, reluctantly letting go. She grabbed his arm when she saw he was trying to stand. "No! Don't get up! What are you doing?"

"Looking…for…way out…" 

Rose had no choice but to help him up, and he started coughing again when his lungs protested the exercise. His head spun from lack of oxygen and he had to lean on the wall. He closed his eyes in an attempt to ward off the spinning, and he tried to ignore the horribly raw sore throat and aching muscles in his chest and stomach from the strenuous coughing. His head hurt too; whether from his sickness or from being knocked out he wasn't sure; probably a combination of both. _I'm a mess!_ he thought.

He felt a hand on his arm and he finally opened his eyes. Quickly scanning the room, he could see that there was no way out. The tiny window was so high up and so small, he doubted either of them could fit through it, even if they _could_ reach it.

He already knew that the door was untouchable, thanks to the deadbolt. _Think, Frank, think! This is why you get paid the big bucks! _His mind was obviously not in tune with his body, for suddenly a sickening weakness swept through him and his vision clouded over; no doubt made worse by his inability to take any kind of a satisfying breath. Rose's hands grabbing him made him realize that he was slowly sliding down the wall, and he found himself sitting on the floor.

"Frank?!"

Hands were on the sides of his face, and he opened his eyes to see Rose looking at him, with a very scared expression.

_What the heck does he have?!_ _He just nearly passed out!_ Rose couldn't remember ever seeing a mere cold or flu be this bad before. 

Frank leaned against her, and she resumed their prior position. 

Holding him tightly, she picked up the earpiece again with a sigh, in another probably wasted attempt to contact his team.

LOL I know that the kidnapper quoting 'The Princess Bride' was retarded, lol, but as I wrote, that quote came to my mind and I couldn't resist! (Okaaaaaaaaaay!) Thanks for your reviews!


	9. Frank's Worst Nightmare

Alex sighed as she sat on her cot to put her shoes on. As she zipped her boot, she heard a faint voice. Frowning, she thought she imagined it, until it repeated. Looking around the room, she saw that no one else appeared to have heard it, and she looked down at the floor to see her earpiece that she'd placed beside her boots when she'd gone to sleep that morning.

The voice sounded again, and she grabbed it and jumped to her feet. "Hello?"

Rose gasped at Alex's voice. "Oh my gosh! Are you one of Frank's team?"

"Rose?! Are you Rose? Is Frank with you?"

Everyone looked at Alex in shock at what they were hearing, and scrambled to get their own earpieces. 

"Yes! I'm Rose! Frank is right here, but he's really sick!"

Alex got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach when she heard that.

"Rose, let me talk to him," Jake said, through his earpiece.

Rose sighed. "He can't talk back, or he'll cough his lungs out."

Alex and Jake exchanged glances, both of them thinking the same thing: pneumonia.

"Do you know where you are?" Jake asked, as everyone grabbed their jackets and ran out the door.

"No."

They all jumped into the van, and hovered around Cody as he turned on one of the computers and started typing.

"The signal is coming from the south," he told Jake. 

"I'll drive," Monica said, and jumped into the driver's seat.

"Are you in a warehouse, building, what?" Jake asked.

"Looks like a house, we're in the cellar," she answered.

"Rose…"

"Shh, Frank! Don't talk."

Alex heard the worried tone of Rose's voice, and wondered just how bad off Frank was.

"Ask…who…"

"Who?" Rose repeated.

Jake understood. "Tell him David Miller."

"Someone named David Miller." Rose watched as a look of dread crossed Frank's face. "Frank? What is it? No! Don't talk!"

The team all looked at each other sadly. What Monica had told them about Frank's aversion to fire must really be true, for him to have reacted in a way for Rose to notice so easily.

"West!" Cody suddenly called out.

Monica heard him through her earpiece, and obeyed. 

"Did Miller hurt either of you?" Alex asked.

"Not me, Frank has a cut on his head though, they knocked him out when they grabbed him."

"How is Frank's condition?"

"He's real sick," Rose said, wondering if they could hear his labored breathing over the earpiece. "Horrible cough, congestion, fever. He's weak, and can't breathe well." She looked at Frank to see that his eyes were closed as he struggled to take in air. "It's progressed way faster then anything I've ever seen in my life!"

Everyone sighed. "We'll be there, don't worry," Jake said. "Tell Frank we're on our way."

"They're coming, Frank."

He nodded at her, his breathing seeming to have grown worse in the short time she'd been talking to his team. Rose sighed, hoping she was imagining it. 

********************

They'd been driving for over an hour. The team thought it odd that Miller left Rose and Frank completely alone, but they weren't about to look a gift-horse in the mouth.

"Southwest!"

Monica obeyed Cody, hoping they were getting close.

"Jake?"

Rose's voice whispered over the earpiece, and her tone set him on alert. "Yeah?"

"I think they came back…I can hear them walking around upstairs."

Jake sighed. He'd hoped they'd get there before the kidnappers got back, so they could get Frank and Rose out safely before going back to arrest them.

"Pretend you're asleep, if they come down there. Maybe they'll leave you alone," Alex knew it sounded ridiculous, but she was really getting nervous now.

"Okay."

********************

"This is gonna be fun."

Miller nodded. "Sure is. Can't wait to watch the news tonight."

"Yup," Jeff agreed. "From the other side of the country!" He sighed. "I wish we'd gotten her old man's money."  
  


"Forget it," Miller said. "We'll try robbing a bank instead." He opened a cabinet and took out a can of gasoline.

Jeff's eyes bugged out of his head. "Gas!"

"Very good."

"Can I pour it?"

Miller shook his head. "Nope; _I'm_ a professional."

Jeff laughed, and watched as Miller proceeded to spread it around the house.

*******************

"Frank?"

"Umm…"

"Do you smell that?"

Frank lifted his head slightly and tried to sniff, stopping when it became obvious that he couldn't smell anything if he tried.

"Rose?" she heard, through the earpiece. "What is it?"

"It…it smells like gasoline…"

Frank looked up at her, in shock.

Rose heard Alex start muttering to herself.

"Faster, Monica!" Jake said. "Cody, is that thing telling you _anything_ on how close we are?" 

"No…yeah," he said, as the screen he was watching suddenly displayed an ending point to their travels. "Looks like we might get there in ten, fifteen minutes. Keep going west, Monica!"

"I am, I am!"

"Oh my gosh," Rose whispered. "I really smell it now, it _is_ gasoline!" 

Alex started to pace in the van, almost losing her balance when Monica took a corner too fast.

"Rose?" Jake said. "Do you smell smoke?"

"No." She and Frank were still in the same position, both of them staring at the cellar door, wondering if Miller would come and taunt them before leaving. 

Rose was getting increasingly nervous to see Frank's breathing coming faster and faster. Frank Donovan didn't fear much, but right now she knew he was afraid. Her mind brought her back to the fire they had been in where he'd saved her life. She had been hanging out the window, and hadn't seen the flames sweeping around the room and getting closer and closer to Frank; she didn't see them engulf his friend, or breathe in the smoke…she sighed, realizing that this was Frank Donovan's horrible childhood fear come to light.

"Frank, calm down," Rose said, not wanting him to cough again or pass out from lack of oxygen. "Your team is almost here," she said. "They'll save us."

Jake thought it odd to hear Rose trying to calm Frank, instead of the other way around. _God, let us get there before he sets the fire! _he prayed.

********************

"'kay, let's blow this joint."

Miller took some matches out of his pocket, lit the whole book, and threw it down at a puddle of gas. It instantly ignited, and sent a stream of flames following the path of the gasoline. 

As they left, both men laughed.

********************

"_Smoke_! I smell smoke!"

"No!" Alex cried.

"Cody!"

"Five minutes! Monica, get off the next exit!"

Everyone had to grab onto something as Monica took the exit at 50 instead of the posted 30mph.

Rose watched in shock as a cloud of black smoke came streaming into the cellar from under the door.

"Smoke's coming into the room!"

"Cover your faces!" Jake yelled.

Rose dug into Frank's jacket and found a handkerchief. She held it to Frank's face, trying to figure out how he would get the oxygen that he was seriously lacking already, with the cloth now preventing the inhalation of more. 

"It's filling the room!" she said. "Oh no!" she cried, when Frank started to cough.

The team could hear Frank now, and they looked at each other in horror.

"CRAP!" Cody yelled. "Monica, turn around!"

"WHAT?!"

"You were supposed to take that street…"

Monica pulled a 180 and did what Cody said. 

"Quick right!"

The van rocked as Monica obeyed.

"She's gonna flip this thing, I know it…" Alex said.

Rose pulled Frank into a huddle, hoping to keep him from inhaling the smoke. She stuck her chin into the top of her shirt, pulling it up to cover her mouth and nose. "Hurry!" she yelled, into the earpiece. 

"Is there a window down there?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, but we can't reach it!"

"Throw something at it! Break it!"

Rose's jaw dropped. _I should've thought of that! _She carefully disentangled herself from Frank, and stood. The smoke was preventing her from seeing everything in the cellar, but she finally found a small piece of a steel pipe. Running over to the window, coughing herself now, she aimed, and threw it as hard as she could. When she heard the glass break, she yelled. "YES!"

Frank's coughing grew worse, and she ran back over to him. Together they huddled, and waited.


	10. The Rescue!

Thank you all sooooo much for the reviews!! I'm so happy! LOL! There's two chapters left after this one! 

"I see the smoke!" yelled Monica.

Everyone ran to the front of the van, to see a black cloud lifting into the air. Monica turned onto a street called, 'Garfield Ave'.

"Cody! Call the fire dept! Monica, what city we in?"

"Peoria!"

"Why don't I just call 911?" said Cody. "I don't know the number to Peoria Fire!"

"You're on a cell phone! You have to tell 911 the location!" Jake told him.

"Oh yeah," Cody said, and dialed. 

They could see the house now, and Monica sped up.

"911 already has it!" Cody said, with a*phew*. "They already sent them."

Monica screeched to a stop, and everyone jumped out. The house was pretty much engulfed. 

"Rose! We're there! What side of the house are you on?!" Jake said, as he ran over to the door. 

Rose raised her head from their huddle, and looked at the window. "The left, from the inside!"

"Then we go right. Cody!"

Cody gulped as he watched Jake use his shoulder to bust the door in. They both ran in to see the path the fire had taken thanks to the gasoline, and there was actually room for them to walk through the living room, for Miller naturally hadn't poured the gas where he and his accomplice had to walk in order to leave the house.

As they ran into the kitchen, the flames were more dangerous; the kidnappers obviously wanting to be sure that the smoke made it to the cellar. 

"Jake! I can hear you up there!"

"Keep yelling!" Jake said, and removed the earpiece. He heard the shouts coming from the right, and he and Cody carefully but quickly made their way in that direction. 

"There's the door!" Cody yelled.

They reached it, and Cody reached for the handle of the deadbolt, to unlock it, but Jake threw out his hand, stopping him. "It's probably boiling hot!" He removed one of his gloves, and folded it over to make two layers. He opened the locks and got the door open, and smoke billowed out from the cellar, into their faces. 

As they made their way down the steps, they could hardly see, for all the smoke.

"Frank!" he yelled. "Rose!"

"Here!"

They followed her voice and Frank's coughing till they nearly tripped over them. 

The sight of Frank scared them both. They'd never seen him looking so sick; and his coughing was the worst they'd ever heard. He looked like he was in pain; from the horrendous cough, most likely.

They tried to help him up, before realizing he was in handcuffs.

Cody took a key out of his pocket, fumbling in his haste, and dropping it. "Arrrgh!" 

"Forget it, no time!" Jake said, and together they got Frank up between them and made for the stairs. 

Jake made Rose go up first, and she waited at the top of the stairs for them to catch up; it took them longer to get up them while holding onto Frank. When they finally did, and stepped into the kitchen, they were shocked to see that the fire had swept through the rest of the living room, effectively blocking the door.

"Jake!" they heard through their earpieces. "Cody! Are you guys all right?!"

"Yeah, we got Frank and Rose!" said Jake. "Trying to find a way out!"

"Another door!" Rose suddenly said, and darted to the right. 

Following her, they came to a back door that the flames had not yet reached. She quickly opened it, and they all ran outside. Running around to the front of the house, they saw the fire trucks pull up, and a bunch of spectators watching the scene. 

Alex and Monica ran over, and helped them all out of harm's way of the fire, where the four of them collapsed in the snow at the edge of the lawn, out of breath and choking from the smoke. 

"Medics!" Alex yelled, as an ambulance pulled up. "Over here!" The paramedics ran over with their equipment, and started handing out oxygen masks. 

Jake and Cody declined, insisting they were fine. 

Rose took the one offered her, and watched nervously as Jake used his key to get the handcuffs off Frank, who seemed barely conscious, his body still wracked with coughs and gasps and chokes that made her _own_ chest hurt.

"How much did he inhale?" one of the medics asked, alarmed. 

"We think he has pneumonia!" Alex said.

The other medic's jaw dropped, as he quickly slapped an oxygen mask on Frank. "Pneumonia _and_ smoke inhalation? We better get him to the hospital fast!"

The other medic nodded, and they quickly put Frank in the ambulance, allowing only Rose to go with them.

As the others got into the van, the sound of a small explosion filled the air. "What was that?!" Jake asked a fireman who ran from the back of the house.

"The furnace in the cellar blew up!"

"The furnace in the _cellar_…" Alex repeated. 

The team just stared at each other for a minute, in shock to realize that they had made it just in time to save Frank and Rose's lives.


	11. Little Brother

1 chapter left after this one! WOO HOO! 

"Convicted arsonist David Miller and an unnamed accomplice were apprehended yesterday at Greater Peoria Airport, after leaving a kidnapped woman and Justice Department Agent Frank Donovan in the cellar of a burning house. Details are scarce as to why, but sources report that the kidnapped woman is the daughter of an Illinois State Senator. The woman reportedly suffered no injuries, while Agent Donovan was apparently treated at an unnamed hospital in Peoria and then transferred to University of Chicago Hospital, where he is reportedly in stable condition."

Jake shut off the TV, and placed the remote on the night table beside the bed. "Glad that's over."

"So am I," said Alex.

"Me too," said Monica.

"Me three," said Cody. "Or is that four?"

They suddenly heard a snore, and looked at Frank, asleep in the hospital bed. Rose was sitting in a chair on the other side of the bed, her head lying next to his arm, apparently asleep. They realized the snore had come from her, as it had sounded distinctly feminine. 

"They would've made a cute couple," said Cody, with a smile. 

"Frank's like my brother," they heard. Rose sat up and looked at them.

"Oops…" Cody said, not knowing she'd awoken. "Did you know you snore?" he said, trying to change the subject.

She made a face at him. "Occasionally. Just now I heard it in my sleep and woke myself up."

"Frank considers you his sister too," Jake said. "He told us about you."

"Did he?" 

They all nodded.

Rose smiled and placed a hand on Frank's arm, gently running her hand up and down it. Suddenly her face changed. "I almost died when Miller dragged Frank into that cellar."

Everyone sighed, only able to imagine what she and Frank had gone through.

"Frank may be a tough guy, but he's younger then me, so I've always babied him."

Everyone's eyebrows went up. "He's younger then you?" Monica asked.

She nodded. "Two years. I was the 'big sister' when we were growing up."

"That's cute," Alex said, smiling.

"He was the most adorable child," Rose continued, knowing that if Frank heard what she was saying, he'd flip. "He would ask me for something and I'd get it for him, and he'd say 'please'—usually, anyway." She smiled. "He loved chocolate chip cookies."

"You had to get them? Why?"

"I was a lot taller then he was."

"What?" Cody said, starting to laugh quietly, so as not to wake Frank. "Frank used to be short?"

They all laughed for a minute. 

"I wouldn't think there'd be that much difference in height between a girl and a boy only two years apart at that age," Alex said.

"Funny, isn't it?" Rose agreed. "And now he towers over us all."

"And don't you forget it," they heard.

Rose jumped at Frank's voice. He was smiling at her from behind the oxygen mask the doctors insisted he wear.

"Shh," Rose said. "Don't talk, you don't want to—"

Frank started coughing.

"—cough," Rose finished.

They were relieved to see that his cough sounded better then the previous day. The medicine he'd been given was working, along with the procedure they'd done to remove some of the fluid from his lungs. Frank had been unconscious for that, thankfully; they'd given him a sedative to prevent coughing while they performed the procedure, and that, in combination with all that he'd gone through, had knocked him out cold through the whole thing and most of the night. When Frank had awoken the first time, he wondered why the sides of his chest hurt, having not even been aware that they done the painful procedure.

"You may be our boss," said Cody. "But I bet you wish you'd listened to us."

Frank looked at him with a frown, wondering what he meant. 

"Do you remember what we told you when you woke up the first time, or were you too drugged up?"

The look on Frank's face was all the answer they needed.

"You have pneumonia!" Cody told him.

"I knew that," Frank answered, matter-of-factly.

"How?" Alex asked.

"When I found myself drowning…on something I hadn't swallowed or inhaled…it became obvious." 

Everyone gave him sympathetic looks.

"I didn't know that people who'd lost their spleens get pneumonia easily," said Rose, feeling stupid. "Heck, I didn't even know you'd lost _yours_!" she said, wishing she hadn't been out-of-state at the time. "You poor thing! I'm _never_ letting you out of my sight again, _little_ brother."

Everyone smiled when Frank gave her a mock-scowl.

"What have we here?"

They turned to see two nurses standing in the doorway. Their nametags read 'Tracy' and 'Eirian'.***

"Mr. Donovan!" they both said.

Frank tried to sigh without coughing. He didn't succeed.

Both nurses ran over and tried to make him more comfortable. "Back _again_? What is it with you?" said Tracy.

"Maybe he missed us," Eirian said, elbowing her friend.

"Ah ha! I see!" she laughed. "You seem to get into a lot of trouble," Tracy said to Frank. "You know, there are easier ways to get a date," she said, with a wink.

Everyone started to laugh.

"Date?!" choked Frank.

Everyone stopped laughing when he started to cough again.

"Sorry," Tracy said, contrite. 

"Too bad, ladies," said Cody. "He's married to his job!" He shook his head. "No time for girls."

Jake laughed at Cody's statement. "As for 'trouble', you don't know the half of it. You two weren't here a couple months ago when he lost his spleen. "

"What?!" 

Frank groaned and rolled his eyes. He was _never_ gonna live this spleen thing down. 

"Yup," said Cody, enjoying his boss' embarrassment. "Got stabbed in a bank robbery."

"My gosh!" said Eirian. "We had a two-week vacation." 

"Must've been those two weeks then," said Alex.

Tracy and Eirian both tsk-tsked at Frank. It was a funny sight for the team to see. 

"Geez!" Tracy said, shaking her head. "Back here before even having a chance to recover from _that_! Don't you try to talk your handsome friend into letting you out of here _this_ time," she told Frank. 

When Jake heard the word, 'handsome', his eyebrows shot up, and he grinned. But before he could say anything to her, both nurses' pagers went off.

"Darn it," Eirian said. "We'll be back to check on you."

"Yup, we sure will," Tracy said.

They both left, giggling.

The team was amused.

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again," said Cody. "You get _all_ the girls!"

"He always did."

They looked to the door to see Senator Williams come in.

"Really? More Frankie stories to tell us?"

Frank frowned. "'More Frankie stories'?" he repeated.

"He's kidding," Williams told Frank, giving Cody a wink. "How do you feel today? Better?"

Frank nodded. "Yeah."

Williams went to where his daughter sat, and kissed her on the cheek. 

"Frank, I can only say 'thank you' so many times before it sounds inadequate."

Frank waved his hand. "It's my job. Besides, Rose and I were saved by my team."  

"That's right." Williams looked at Jake, Alex, Cody, and Monica each in turn. "Thank you all, so much."

They all smiled at him.

"Aww, it was nothin'," said Cody. "Monica, I've been meaning to tell you."

"What?"

"You made _amazing_ time to Peoria." 

They all laughed. 

"I hope you learned a lesson, young lady," Williams said, to his daughter. 

"A lesson?"

The whole team said it with him. "Lock your window!"

***My UC story, 'Mystery of the Mind' http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=565988


	12. Time for a Vacation!

Frank walked into HQ two weeks later, a few days after getting out of the hospital. They'd kept him there longer then usual for a patient with pneumonia, purposely prolonging his treatment. Thanks to his missing spleen, they wanted to be sure he wouldn't have a relapse. 

When he walked into the room, he was surprised at what he saw.

Rose was sitting on the couch, with everyone surrounding her. He missed what she said, but suddenly everyone busted out laughing.

_Oh no, _he thought_._ "Stories of my childhood, Rose?"

He heard a few gasps and everyone turned to look at him. 

"Frank!" Rose said, jumping up and grabbing his arm. "I was just gonna come by your place."

Frank walked with her to the couch. "After story time?"

She laughed. 

"How you feeling today, Frank?" Alex asked, probably to change the subject.

"Not bad," he said. "Tired, mostly."

"Cough gone yet?" Monica asked.

"Almost."

"Well, after the stunt you pulled, you should probably take it easy for a year," said Cody.

Frank frowned, as he sat on the couch. "Stunt?"

"Not going home when we told you to," Cody explained. "You might not've developed the pneumonia if you had."

"But what about Rose?" Frank asked.

"He's right," said Jake. "He couldn't go home with her in danger."

Rose smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"You should take a vacation, Frank," said Monica.

Frank frowned. "A vacation?"

"Yeah!" said Cody. "To the Bahamas or Hawaii or something."

Frank shrugged. His whole life revolved around work, it was what he knew. How could he go somewhere and do nothing but lie around? He was about to refuse, when he hesitated. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. He'd finally get a chance to _really_ recover; getting pneumonia a mere two months after having his spleen removed wasn't exactly a good sign, the doctors had said. 

"Maybe," he finally said. "Maybe I will." He looked at Rose. "Coming?"

Rose grinned from ear to ear. "I'd love to! It would be just like old times!"

"All right," he said to the team. "I have a job for you."

They all looked at him as if to say, 'huh?'

"Find out all the good vacation spots, and have it on my desk by tomorrow."

Everyone laughed at that one, overjoyed that their boss seemed to finally be letting himself loose from nothing but work, work, work. It was a vacation well deserved.

THE END

Hope everyone like this! Thank you to EVERYONE who gave me the wonderful reviews! I appreciate them so much! I guess I roped myself into writing about Frank's and Rose's vacation, didn't I? Stay tuned! ;)


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